Contractors: home improvement salespersons.

Existing law, the Contractors' State License Law, provides for the licensure and regulation of contractors, including home improvement contractors, by the Contractors' State License Board within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law also provides for the registration and regulation of home improvement salespersons, who are employed by a licensed home improvement contractor, by the board. Existing law requires the fees and civil penalties received under this law to be deposited in the Contractors' License Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. Existing law authorizes the board to set fees by regulation and sets forth certain limitations on those fees. Existing law, in connection with a delinquent application for the renewal of registration of a home improvement salesperson, establishes a delinquent renewal penalty. This bill would increase various fee limitations and would additionally provide that the application fee to add personnel to an existing license be no more than $150. The bill would also increase the delinquent renewal penalty described above. Because the increased and new fees would be deposited into the Contractors' License Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. Existing law, on and after July 1, 2016, requires a board within the department to expedite, and authorizes the department to assist with, the initial licensure process for an applicant who supplied satisfactory evidence that he or she has served as an active duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States and was honorably discharged. Existing law also establishes a similar expedited licensure process for an applicant who holds a current license in another jurisdiction and has a specified relationship with such an active duty member who is assigned to a duty station in this state under official orders. This bill would require the board to establish, by regulation, expedited processes for applications for licensure of contractors and registration of home improvement salespersons, including criteria for approval. The bill would exempt from these regulations an application that is required to be expedited pursuant to other law, including, but not limited to, the applications of those aforementioned applicants who have, among other things, served as an active duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States or have a specified relationship with such an active duty member.